Social networking and confusion of charity.

Social networking and confusion of charity.

 

I have often wondered many things one of the biggest I seem to get stuck on is helping others, sometimes to the point of pain, others quietly unseen. Sometimes I am not even sure why I do, others I see my own selfishness. Some I choose, some I don’t. There may be a whole personal side and many reasons I will or will not choose to move.

 

Where I get stuck the most is when that crosses from the reality of personal to responsibilities of business or the other flat side of that same coin. Being responsible to business crosses the lines of personal.

 

With all this social media, all these sites to jump into covering everything from who I work with, or hope to, to what I had for dinner, there seems this complete blur on the lines of personal and business. I have even seen the advent of new careers in this confusion; we call them personal coaches, business coaches, extra.  Not that that is new as a career, I mean really how to make money helping others is a very large industry and has been around for centuries. I even make a few dimes in this area critiquing and mentoring.

 

Something I learned form years of addiction counseling, you can tell a rock to move for free, even charge that rock for your time, that rock is not going to move. It’s a rock.

 

I am really pre digital when it comes to who I am, age and all them memories of wall mounted phones being moved to the desktop, next to that thing we called a rolodex, when a copier was the most talked about business solution. I guess that makes me old school to the younger generations. With that I built an old school service with my smiley face, and keep on truckin tee shirts and all.   

 

Part of that old school stuff is developing personal relationships with the people who I work with; this is not something that all this technology has changed, for me it is a time together working relationship, there is no such thing as instant relationships. Sure there are acquaintances, and friendships built at distance, by phone, email, even sites like Facebook.  With this ever changing world of digital and cloud it is great to build more attention, and new relationships however they still take time and effort to build.

 

Asking me for an endorsement of your work clearly falls under critiquing, asking me how to develop a style, a presents of your work, or abilities clearly falls under mentoring.

 

Yet here I set with endorsements, and thousands of acquaintances, yet few take the time it takes to even look at my work. I can laugh about this today, while this happened it stung, I had been working with a young model who has taken the time to hang out and invest personal time into getting a better photo session and hopefully more new work. For months I had been developing a relationship teaching how to achieve that look spontaneously quickly and professionally. I found out she only looked at my portfolio once.

 

That stings! So much for all this instant now stuff; a working relationship still requires time and effort. An endorsement or referrals are earned not given. An acquaintance is an attempt to get to know me and them I, it is the beginning of a relationship, not the results there of.

 

A business referral is something that carries very strong weight with me, from whom my service provider is, to who I suggest you work with carries that piece of me with it, my suggestion, my word. I also expect that in return.

 

There is no charity in this, this is business. With the advent of all this social media forums, threads, instant now expressions and quick text messaging I seem to wonder about old school values about being who you are also being forgotten or over looked.

 

I am me from the moment I get up until the moment I go to sleep each night, I am okay with that, I have a profession a thing I do and have done for years, it is how I make my living, am I perfect no not by a long shot. I am honest asking me how I ended up on skid roll once or twice. For me my profession is my life, not just my livelihood. It is something I have extreme pride in, something I have worked very hard to do, something to show I was here.

 

Asking me for a business referral after becoming an acquaintance, friend or connecting with me yesterday goes against everything I am about. Asking me to endorse you, you better include a check, or a mutual gain perspective. Asking me to give you a character reference better have a lot of character if I met you yesterday.

 

A career is something you work at, at least for me. I believe that; To achieve great things, first dream great dreams! I also believe that to do that you have to work at it each day, take a step in that right direction each day. I believe that risks with effort are worth it, even if you miss your mark you learned from the effort, thus making the next mark that much easier to reach. I believe that success is putting consistent work together.

 

I believe in the physics of social networking, the law of attractions, attention is attention in business that means things will get better all around in every industry. Also believe in Darwin’s work, it is a time thing. Evolution takes time.

 

Alas I was not made yesterday. I am not a package of instant breakfast. There is no instant endorsement, instant success.

A book or a presentation

A models book/presentation

 

 

Attention is king and the point of any book so I am not sure if I could break down a book/portfolio in the simple ways.

 

Printed form;

 

5 headshots 2 black and white

5 life style/ commercial 2 neutral clothing (weekend relaxed look), all five colors,

5 editorial  all of these can be black and white.

6 Glamour/Fashion and have at least 3 styled item specific shots. Split evenly on location/studio work.

 

A moment about online books, this is a super fast ever changing arena, where time is a delay in ones day. No one is going to wait for an image to load nor set through pages of yuck or broken links. This is the age of the 10 second surfer that is all you get to pause their thinking and make the job/assignment happen.

 

Online Forms of your book or presentation;

 

E-book form should have the same image count as a printed book.

 

Website/modeling/agent sites ad in Tearsheets/Awards category  section,  no more than 150 to 500 images 800X800 monthly updated with new and deleted activities, this should grow as your career goes and be well maintained with no more than 25 1000X1000 pixel, main focus gallery with the others in categorized galleries for easy viewing.

 

A good rule of thumb is a

30% ratio of black and white.

30% studio focused images.

70% location/style/item depending on the type of modeling/acting one is both working in and inspiring to add.

 

About them movie files 5 is more than enough for any reels.

 

Social networking like LinkedIn, is a great place to introduce yourselves its focus is on the profession, as such a great place to build a fan base as well as offers. It focus is building a forum of introductions directly to the people you want to be introduced to. It is businesses approaching talent directly and talent approaching business directly. Its very useful.

 

Twitter a right now approach to your life, your profession and a free form of advertising, the moment they charge me for that I am gone, it is right now.

 

Facebook/ Myspace/Twitter Social media sites have become the tabloid of the common person.

 

Viewed as such you are a model/actor/musician/entertainer from the moment your feet hit the floor in the morning to the movement you go to sleep at night and with whom, is known. Be smart about what you post when using these great attention getting venues. A tabloid is part of everyday life now.

 

A word about what that means; it is the proof that a model/actor/musician/entertainers job/career is about you/them. This is becoming a major factor of your success these are your best presentation of you, your attitude is so important.

 

Negative attention is never as good as attitude. Life is life be you first, the use of a tabloid is strong and is well, a negative in form of advertizing. However; it can be a great attention getting venue, where attitude rules.

 

Fan page or personal Facebook is a tabloid page first. Who what when where all put together with opinions, friends and family as well as the world. The instant Inquirer.  From events to dining habits and area you should invest caution in, when telling the world what you are doing.

 

Please understand these are just my personal opinions about the realities of what it is when you are building a portfolio, a book of your work. From a career that has stretched Polaroid’s/ film and mailing the images at post office, to the instant now of the cloud, these are just my opinions.

 

 

Stress management anyone?????

Managing stress???? What happened to good old negative behaviors? I mean like a glass of wine, ( its good for you,), or even the act of sex ( another thing that is good for you.) Chocolate is another wonderful thing, they are just negatively associated. LOL unless doing so causes you stress.

 

Stress in its simplest form is where responsibility and desire bump heads, this leads to the myth of spontaneity as a cure all for many things, as well as the ever so popular schedules for everything, depending on which thought you go by. It is the conflict between responsibilities and desires that is the root of stress.

 

Meditations, prayer, quite time, physical exercise are all good things, unless you come to terms with the conflicts they themselves will be a form of stress. Just like the tasks, lists, things to do, cognitive thoughts.

 

For me I’ll take a two glasses of wine and a good roll in the sack fallowed by a nice piece of chocolate. Now if I can just convince the boss that it is okay to do so. Oh but that is me lol so I guess I am done for the day.

Understanding love is

Love

Truly this is a pathway in which understanding the value of another is equal to the value of self.

If time is given a value to a point

Time is given its value from the point in which it is marked, which would make “jumping” back and forth in and out of multiple dimensions in theory correct.

 

Bending space, warping space, would be finding the same point of time relative to the points. Finding the zero of time to each point is the issue.

 

If the big bang theory is correct and that is the beginnings of time, or even used as the marker of time then we are the particle aftermath. Then our math only becomes a perception of that point.

 

However, if we agree that there are multiple dimensions and that each are built like ours, then our neighboring dimensions would be almost pure “white” energy except where our “dark” energy dimension touched. It would then be perceived we are sparks of something continuing on forever, Time.

 

 Our neighboring dimensions become like a battery pole super positives to our super negatives.

 

Alas that is correct socially as well.

An Amends

An amends I truly went off yesterday on some poor kid, who took the risk and asked about weather or not she should have a modeling fan page.

 

I took a dream a thought of success and made a bad example out of all of this modeling efforts, a dream of being at the top of a wonderful industry, of being famous, of being a goddess of attention.

 

Really who am I to have such an opinion as to weather or not she should have a Fan Page. I mean is it I who is going to be wondering who is in that car keeps following me, or of the fan to just has to marry me, Gosh at my age, is it me that is going to be looking at these wonderful images, and an expense that never gets covered, is it me that is looking at Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter just to get attention for some far off job in NYC then spend years wondering why they didn’t call me.

 

A career in Internet modeling, Facebook modeling and being a Porn star are the same, it doesn’t take any experience.

 

See proof I am mean. Alas; honest but mean all the same.

Models or Photographers

I have spent my life working with and providing images for models who really want to go somewhere, these are the people who, have a very difficult time explaining why they want to be the Sexiest, the most Enchanting, they are the ones you find on covers and inside Magazines, they are not the fool hearty, the attention freaks, they are the ones who put fourth effort way beyond the others, whom assume the worst of them, or me.

 

It is for them I have spent the last few years of my life providing opportunities which other wise would have been lost to them.

 

It is and will be an honor to work with them.

 

To have that cheapened by Facebook and fakeness is an insult, to them and their dreams.

 

It is only the professionals, those whom have gone to college to learn a trade, to have spent years of their life to achieve the simplest of things, gratitude of the profession.

 

Why make less of them whom have come before you.

 

If you are a model, and when I say that word it has convictions, it has desires, it has goals. If you are a photographer, to which has standards of ethics’, of professionalism, why would you present yourself on a free, unlimited venue such as Facebook, how selfish of you.  Only to be viewed as a cheapened persona.

 

Does this mean I am against the new, the amateur hardly not, but think before you jump, it is your images, your attitude, your dreams, to which you are chained. It is the view of the profession to condemn the cheap, the free loaders, the attention freaks.

 

You want a fan page, make dang sure you can provide the image the attitude and the professionalism. Other wise you look like another want to be, wishing, wanting someone else to do for you which you can not provide for yourself.

 

My two cents.

Common sense Mariujuana

Common sense

 

I could explain what a simple search on Bing, Google, or any search engine about this issue would attain but come on people, information in information out, this could go on for days. With the never ending points of law, social impact, crime, clinical research extra, extra, extra.  

 

We all want proof, we all want to make the right decisions; We want to be a steward to our own beliefs, form the safety of our children, to the benefit of our communities. We don’t want to make mistakes.

 

When I was growing up, going to school back in the day when phones were still attached to the wall. We would go to beer parties, from football season, through the year to Baseball, at these parties were the few who tried marijuana, some liked it some did not. But they were there, these few. The pictures the in news was about Hippies running around loosing their clothing complaining the Government was unfair about war, sex and drugs, That women were equal to and should receive equal pay and to have access to equal opportunities, and could wear want they wanted! That it does not matter what sex you are, nor who you choose to kiss.

 

It was the thing to do, to try to do something right, we considered social wrongs, and did something about them. We wore cool T-shirts like the big smiley which today is still used as a icon and short text, J . We came up with cool sayings like “Keep on Truckin.”.  We bought into the Bicentennial of our country were words like Liberty, the Constitution, were openly discussed. We spoke about our rights, discussed and proudly displayed these.

 

But there were these few, they didn’t die, didn’t get lost for days ( ok I did by choice), that became successful, were and are responsible. That raised and are raising outstand kids, We didn’t turn into monsters.

 

However we neglected again the minorities and the poor, by allowing unfounded laws to be passed. This is the travesty of these laws. To kill a production of an item as an industry, to persecute and jail out of unsubstantiated fear; To allow the war on drugs to be used as a way to control the cartels, and organized criminals which were created by this very fear again as it did in the Prohibition Alcohol.  To use miss information to justify mass media fear. Thus controlling the population. WTF.

 

Our Senators and Representatives are setting there complaining about the cost of government and how we need to cut spending and raise taxes, to pay for what? More of this neglect? More of this abuse?

 

Why is this not on the table to discuss? The saving of reducing tax expenditures; reducing the national debit, reducing crime, protecting the disadvantaged, educating our children, releasing form the bounds and chains an industry that could produce “green jobs” .

 

It is a Liberty to drink; a Liberty to smoke tobacco; A Liberty; a choice to govern ourselves, to Steward our communities, but we should at all costs be critical of that governing body. When we perceive a terrible wrong, a miss use of both power and infringement, we are Responsible to enact a change.  

 

Our founding Fathers would Freak!

 

I may not spell correctly, nor may I have gone to school to completion, however I have a right, a responsibility to point out common sense.

 

Chas Della Silva

Humble or is it fear?

Fear and Honor compete for space in my head. I think that is why I stay behind the camera and the screen of my laptop.

Just my thoughts: Digital loss

Just my thoughts: Digital loss: A digital loss,   How easy is it to get over the loss of digital work, for me its very hard to see the old hard drive fail and the...

Digital loss

A digital loss,

 

How easy is it to get over the loss of digital work, for me its very hard to see the old hard drive fail and the loss of so may months of work, too loose 365 images is, “well it happens” but to loose 365 poems is so hard to recreate.

 

Backups of backups to replace the loss of them images, really it just means reediting the work, well some, some taken form the loss would be just easier to reshoot. You see models have changed in the time that has lapsed so, would it not be fairer for them to rework the session. Alas most have quit the profession become married, had children, moved on with their life’s.

 

But the poems you see are completely different, the inspirations have shifted as my mind drifts on the currents of life the loss of them hurts deeply. Too this I have come depressed a dangerous place for me to be, for the shadows of dreams are changed to the chains of blackness each leading only back to the depths of the empty room.

 

Whom shall be the light, for the hand of inspirations is surely needed, fear not what I capture, fear only of what I write. For the dust will well have settled before you too are a footnote of a dream. Alas you will become lost in the depths of the digital age, read by few, seen by many as part of the cloud.